Alfred passes judgment on Gunter.
Rod Serling: Mr. Schmidt recently arrived in a small Bavarian village, which lies eight miles northwest of Munich — a picturesque, delightful little spot one time known for its scenery, but more recently related to other events having to do with some of the less positive pursuits of man: human slaughter, torture, misery, and anguish. Mr. Schmidt, as we will soon perceive, has a vested interest in the ruins of a concentration camp — for once, some seventeen years ago, his name was Gunter Lütze. He held the rank of a captain in the SS. He was a black-uniformed, strutting animal whose function in life was to give pain, and like his colleagues of the time, he shared the one affliction most common amongst that breed known as Nazis: he walked the Earth without a heart. And now former SS Captain Lütze will revisit his old haunts, satisfied perhaps that all that is awaiting him in the ruins on the hill is an element of nostalgia. What he does not know, of course, is that a place like Dachau cannot exist only in Bavaria. By its nature, by its very nature, it must be one of the populated areas of the Twilight Zone.
Air date: November 10, 1961
Gunter Lütze (Oscar Beregi), a former Captain of the SS, returns to the ruins of the Dachau concentration camp under the false identity of "Mr. Schmidt", intending to relive the memories of his time as its commandant during World War II. He revels in the recollection of unspeakable torture he inflicted upon the inmates, remembering with a cold smile the mass suffering he was responsible for. As he walks around the gallows and prepares to leave, he is surprised to see Alfred Becker (Joseph Schildkraut), who claims to be the camp's caretaker. As they talk, Alfred relentlessly dogs Gunter with the reality of his grossly inhumane treatment of the inmates. Gunter stubbornly and unemotionally insists that he was only carrying out orders and had no idea that the Third Reich had planned to exterminate the Jews.
Several former inmates appear in the bunkhouse, where they place Gunter on trial for crimes against humanity and subsequently find him guilty. Before Alfred can pronounce sentence, Gunter remembers that he personally killed him 17 years ago, on the night the US Army raided Dachau, and realizes that Alfred, as well as the men who witnessed his trial, are ghosts. As punishment and atonement, Gunter is made to undergo all the horrors he imposed on the inmates. He is not physically touched, but he experiences the overwhelming amount of pain in his mind. As he tries to flee near the gate, the gallows, and the detention room, Gunter screams in agony, having been driven insane by his ordeal.
Before departing, Alfred's ghost informs Gunter that his sentence is not a means of hatred or revenge, but a serving of justice and retribution. He then leaves the insane Gunter with an ominous warning: "But this is only the beginning, Captain. Only the beginning. Your final judgment will come from God." Gunter is eventually found and taken to an institution for the criminally insane, leaving the men who found him to survey the remains of the camp in wonder and bafflement, wondering what could have possibly driven him insane in two hours. The doctor who examines Gunter (Ben Wright) looks around, visibly upset, and asks why the camp must be kept standing.
Tropes-head Revisited:
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Gunter devolves into a pleading mess during his impromptu trial.
- An Aesop: Evil can never be forgiven, nor forgotten.
- And I Must Scream: In the end, Gunter experiences a total psychological breakdown by experiencing the same horrors and tortures he inflicted on the prisoners of Dachau without relief. Alfred also informs Gunter that this is just the very beginning of some long-overdue retribution, and what God has in store for him for all eternity will be no better, if not even worse.
- Argentina Is Nazi-Land: Alfred mentions that Gunter fled to South America when Dachau was raided, and was "quite safe down there", until he decided to return to the camp solely to relive his sociopathic memories.
- Artistic License – History: Dachau KZ's actual commandant was SS Obersturmbannführer Martin Gottfried Weiss. Weiss didn't escape, but was hanged along with forty two SS officials for their crimes in 1946.
- Asshole Victim: Gunter is one of the vilest kind, but he's also a non-fatal example. He's granted a horrifying fate, but every single thing that's done to him is something he sadistically and gleefully inflicted on an innocent person without regret. The sick bastard got nothing more than what he deserves.
- Berserk Button: Alfred is usually calm and controlled as he confronts Gunter, but when the former officer nonchalantly shrugs off the horrors of The Holocaust as "little mistakes of the past", his demeanor changes noticeably. He doesn't raise his voice, but his horror and anger are perfectly clear.
- Be All My Sins Remembered: The closing narration states this is the reason that concentration camps like Dachau have to be left standing: to remind humanity of what the worst of its number did, as a warning of what happens when men throw away the things that make them human.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Gunter wanted to remember all the pain he inflicted onto others. He does, but not in the way he'd hoped to.
- Beware the Quiet Ones: Alfred is almost always calm and reserved, but his final punishment of Gunter is unimaginably horrifying (albeit thoroughly deserved).
- Blatant Lies: Gunter tells the hotel clerk that he served in the panzer division on Germany’s Eastern front during the war, even though the clerk, judging by the horrific look on her face, knows differently. The thing is, he makes it no secret that he’s bluffing, especially when he questions her about the complex of buildings nearby, claiming not to know its purpose.
- Body Wipe: At one point, Gunter runs toward the camera and blocks out the frame.
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday:
- Gunter doesn't immediately recognize Alfred as one of his victims because there were so many of them. He doesn't even remember until near the end that he'd killed him personally.
- He also tries to apply this logic to the Holocaust as a whole, dismissing what happened as "the little mistakes of the past". Alfred can barely contain his shock and contempt at such the officer's cavalier attitude towards the inhuman slaughter of millions.
- Card-Carrying Villain: Gunter makes no secret about the fact he greatly enjoyed his time as an SS officer. It's Played for Drama, as it shows how utterly depraved a person would have to be to actually enjoy doing such horrible things.
- Chromosome Casting: The unnamed hotel clerk is the only female present in the episode.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: This was all Gunter lived for when he was an SS Captain, with Alfred being just one among his innumerable victims. One of the memories he vividly recollects was how Alfred's agony was so great, he used to beg Gunter to simply kill him. Having his actions repeated back to him causes Gunter to permanently lose his mind within seconds.
- Creepy Good: Alfred's ghost forces Gunter to psychologically relive the horrors he inflicted on other people, driving the Captain to insanity. Horrifying, but definitely what he deserves.
- Dead All Along: Gunter forgets until the last minute that he killed Alfred, on the night the Americans stormed Dachau.
- Dirty Coward: Gunter. For all his bombast, he tries to flee from Alfred twice, and he fled Dachau the night it was raided. When confronted by the ghosts of his other victims, he completely breaks down and begs for mercy.
- Driven to Madness: Gunter's sentence is projected insanity. He's promptly inflicted with every bit of pain and agony he'd ever inflicted on someone, which is more than enough to drive him stark raving mad.
- Dutch Angle: Numerous such shots are used during Gunter's trial.
- Establishing Character Moment: Gunter gets one when he scares a hotel clerk about his true identity, bringing up the subject of Dachau to scare her even further. This sets him up as a soulless man who gets his giggles from pain and misery.
- Evil Is Hammy: Gunter, to establish what a psycho he is.
- Evil Laugh: Former SS captain Gunter is told by the ghost of one of his victims that sentence is about to be passed on him. Gunter lets out a cruel and vicious laugh as he mocks the ghosts for thinking that they can judge him.
- Extremely Short Timespan: The episode takes place over the course of two hours.
- Fat Bastard: Gunter is heavyset, as well as an absolute monster.
- Fatal Flaw: Gunter's remorseless cruelty is what drives Alfred to bring upon him the judgement he very much deserves. It's also the only reason he even came back to begin with, as he was safe and sound in South America, but couldn't resist visiting his old home to remember all the vile things he did.
- Fate Worse than Death: The judgment of Gunter's trial is not death, but insanity, by way of the officer being subjected to all the pain he inflicted, driving him completely insane. This included the deaths of his victims, the only difference being that he feels every bit of pain, but death never comes. But that's NOTHING compared to what Alfred says God has in store for him.
- It’s strongly suggested the inmates went through this, as Alfred describes his own horrifying torture, which he repeatedly endured before he finally was murdered.
- Faux Affably Evil: Gunter. As a commander at Dachau, he acted with all the joy of a summer camp counselor as he mistreated and tortured millions of innocent men. In the present day, he looks back on these horrific atrocities with pleasant nostalgia. Initially, when he encounters Alfred again, he tried to act polite and amiable toward him, but when Alfred confronts him about his crimes, he gradually loses all composure.
- Foreshadowing: Alfred being a ghost is foreshadowed by Gunter saying that he hasn't aged a day since they last saw each other, 17 years earlier, and by his wearing his concentration camp uniform.
- During his sober response to Gunter's "little mistakes" comment, Alfred tells him how it would be a waste of time to ask forgiveness from those hurt beyond forgiving. Later, it turns out Alfred was also talking about himself when he said that, as Gunter killed him 17 years prior.
- For the Evulz: Gunter's entire motivation for his actions is his own sadism, and his motive for returning to Dachau is to remember all the cruelty he inflicted.
- Good Is Not Soft: Alfred is a calm, pleasant person, but his punishment for Gunter is anything but pleasant.
- Hate Sink: Gunter Lütze is easily the most repulsive character ever to appear in the series, as he's a sociopathic SS commander who joined the Nazi party solely to have an excuse to torture and kill innocent people. Every single bit of horrific suffering inflicted upon him is completely deserved.
- Have We Met?: When "Mr. Schmidt" checks into the local inn, the innkeeper recognizes him from his time as the commandant of the concentration camp, although he insists he spent the war in the Panzer division.
- Hero Antagonist: All of Gunter's victims count, but Alfred is the most developed.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Gunter's choice to return to Dachau, solely to enjoy the memory of his crimes, walks him right into divine judgment by the ghosts of his victims. Even more so, his ultimate fate is to be subjected to the complete sum of all of the pain and suffering he ever inflicted at Dachau, which is not only unbearable agony, but drives him completely insane in a few minutes.
- Hypocrite:
- During Gunter's trial, he tries to denounce the whole thing by pointing out there's no judge, jury, or executioner. The Nazi regime, like many of the totalitarian powers of its time, butchered millions without any of them.
- Also during the trial, he claims that what the court is doing to him is inhuman.
- Ignored Epiphany: Gunter's trial comes across as a final chance to redeem himself and show mercy. He does not accept, and he pays dearly for it.
- Insistent Terminology: Alfred makes a point of always calling Gunter by his rank of "Captain", refusing to allow him any distance from his past.
- Ironic Hell: Gunter's punishment for his crimes is to experience every horrific thing he ever did to someone else back to back. He goes completely insane in mere minutes.
- Jacob Marley Apparel: Alfred, as a ghost, still wears the uniform he wore as an inmate.
- Jerkass: Even before Gunter's crimes are revealed, he's a highly unpleasant man. His interactions with the traumatized hotel clerk are especially condescending, and it's clear that he's enjoying bullying her and forcing her to dredge up old memories of the camp.
- Just Following Orders: Gunter claims this was the case while he served as an SS officer, but from what we can see from his flashbacks, he clearly enjoyed following them. Alfred describes this defense as "the Nazi theme music at Nuremberg."
- Karma Houdini Warranty: Gunter escaped punishment for his crimes against humanity for 17 years. Considering what happens when justice finally catches up with him, he would have been much better off in prison, or even hanged.
- Lack of Empathy: Gunter doesn't feel even the slightest bit of remorse for his crimes. Serling even describes him as being a man "without a heart".
- Laser-Guided Karma: Gunter finally gets comeuppance for his actions after 17 years, thanks to the ghost of Alfred. His punishment is to experience every single thing that he inflicted on others.
- Laughing Mad: Gunter goes into a bout of deranged laughter after Alfred informs him he's been found guilty.
- Mercy Kill: Alfred recalls how he used to beg Gunter to kill him rather than be subjected to more torture, but the sadistic Captain refused.
- Mind Rape: Gunter is put on the receiving end of this from the ghostly inmates. After having been found guilty for crimes against humanity, he's made to experience every bit of pain, suffering, and misery he inflicted on the prsioners of Dachau, which ultimately drives him completely insane.
- Nazi Protagonist: Gunter, who visits Dachau solely to relive the atrocities he committed during the war. He eventually receives karmic justice from the souls of his victims.
- Never My Fault: Played for Drama. Gunter's inability to accept responsibility for his actions demonstrate how sick in the head he is.
- Nothing Personal: Played for Drama. Gunter tries to play off his crimes as following his orders. The fact that he has a "shit happens" attitude towards the Holocaust itself is an expression of how much of a cold-blooded monster he is. It's also played straight in a horrifying way in that he clearly didn't care who his victims were; he just enjoyed hurting people, and joining the Nazis and being assigned to a concentration camp gave him a plethora of helpless victims.
- Nothing Is Scarier:
- Alfred reminds Gunter that the tortures committed against human beings in one particular building of the camp are described as "unmentionable", and it's these particular tortures being inflicted upon him are what cause his final descent into insanity. Nothing is spelled out, and all we're shown is Gunter clutching his groin and collapsing, while screaming in agony.
- The ghostly wailing that can be heard during Gunter and Alfred's initial conversations whenever Gunter tries to downplay his atrocities, or get too chummy with Alfred. Neither Gunter nor the audience ever see who or where the sound comes from, but it's absolutely spine-chilling whenever it happens.
Gunter: What was that? It sounded like...
Alfred: The wind, Captain? - Oh, Crap!: Gunter has a pretty severe one when he utters the Wham Line.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Oddly enough, this is downplayed with Gunter, almost to the point of being an aversion. He was a Nazi, which would generally qualify him as this by default, but he doesn't express any racist or anti-semitic views other than calling his prisoners "filth" and "pigs", and even that's not intended to express any racial views. In the end, it's made fairly clear that he just enjoyed hurting people regardless of race or creed and running a concentration camp provided him with access to a massive number of people he was legally allowed to torture; he didn't care who they were or why they were there, he only cared that the law wouldn't protect them.
- Pragmatic Villainy: The only reason Gunter didn't prey on anymore people in South America was because he had to keep a low profile if he wanted to escape capture.
- Psycho for Hire: Gunter was an SS Captain, but it's made clear that all his position did was legally allow him to do things that he enjoyed doing without any punishment.
- Psychopathic Manchild: Gunter would abuse his victims in a manner similar to a sadistic child who stomps ants for fun. When Alfred confronts him, he shows no remorse for anything he's done.
- Punch-Clock Villain: Subverted. Gunter claims he was only following orders, but from his flashbacks and his comments, he clearly enjoyed murdering and torturing thousands of people.
- Recycled In Space: It's Don Giovanni, a Cenar Teco m'Invitasti
with a Nazi war criminal and his victims. - Redemption Rejection: Gunter is given a final chance to admit to his crimes and show genuine remorse at his trial. He doesn't, and is promptly sentenced to his final punishment.
- Reminiscing About Your Victims: Gunter visits the ruins of Dachau, where he used to work, to reminisce about the suffering he caused.
- Retired Monster: Gunter is still as vile and monstrous as he was when he was an SS Captain. All that's changed is that he no longer has a free license to cause pain and misery.
- Ripped from the Headlines: The episode was inspired by the capture and ongoing trial of Adolf Eichmann, one of the main architects of the Holocaust.
- Sadist: Gunter's defining trait. During his time as a captain, he absolutely reveled in the misery and suffering he caused, and looks back on the time with immense fondness, showing that his personality is still very much the same.
- Setting Update: In 2009, "Deaths-Head Revisited" was one of several Twilight Zone episodes to receive a Comic-Book Adaptation. The story was updated to The Present Day, with Gunter changed to an 85 year old man. Also, the hotel clerk turns out to be Alfred's daughter.
- Shoot the Dog: Alfred would really rather show mercy in spite of everything, but Gunter's final refusal to repent means that mercy is no longer an option.
- The Sociopath: Gunter is utterly devoid of empathy and morality, and actually enjoyed all the pain and misery he inflicted on others. He also has absolutely no remorse about any of it, at most insincerely playing it all off as no big deal. The opening narration outright spells it out: he has no heart.
- Sociopathic Soldier: Gunter claimed to have been a Captain during the war, but Alfred remarks he was anything but.
- Soft-Spoken Sadist: Alfred isn't really a sadist, but he barely raises his voice above speaking level when subjecting Gunter to his various punishments, or telling him how this is nothing compared to what awaits him from God. His quiet delivery just makes his lines even more chilling.
- The Stoic: Alfred is reserved and soft-spoken throughout, although he has a few moments of Tranquil Fury.
- Teleportation: Gunter tries to run from the main gate when Alfred tells him that he will stand trial. He finds himself running into one of the barracks, right as the door closes in front of him.
- That Was Not a Dream: Gunter believes his otherworldly trial was just a dream, until Alfred reappears and tells him otherwise.
- This Is Unforgivable!: When Gunter tries to give a flimsy excuse how he had "hoped" people would forget the "little mistakes of the past", a disbelieving Alfred's response is to point out that he's asking for far too much from his former victims. If anything, he would have better luck asking the sun to stop revolving around the Earth. In short, Alfred makes it clear that forgiving Gunter is impossible, and tells his former tormentor "Don't ask forgiveness from those whom you have destroyed to a point past forgiveness."
- Translation Convention: It's obvious that German characters in a German village aren't canonically speaking English.
- Truth in Television: Yes, there actually were many Nazis who, just like Gunter, were rabid, sadistic maniacs who loved causing pain and didn't actually care for Nazi ideology: they simply joined the party for an excuse to kill and torture people.
- Villain Ball: Gunter escaped punishment for his crimes against humanity for 17 long years, staying hidden down in South America to evade the army. His returning to Dachau for no reason other than to reminisce about his crimes has him being confronted by the ghosts of his victims and finally letting justice catch up to him.
- Villainous Breakdown: Gunter increasingly loses his composure upon being confronted by Alfred, until he goes insane after undergoing Mind Rape.
- Wham Line:Gunter: (to Alfred) Why didn't I kill you when I had the chance?! Why didn't I — [Charges at Alfred, then stops] Becker?... I did kill you.
- Would Hurt a Child: Alfred mentions that Gunter's victims included children and infants. This is Truth in Television: in real life, a quarter of the victims of the Holocaust were indeed children.
- You Are Number 6: In one of his flashbacks, Gunter taunts one of the starved, thirst-deprived inmates by referring to him as "Number 23575"note .
- You Look Familiar: In-universe, when the desk clerk at the hotel seems to recognize Gunter, even though he uses an assumed identity and lies about his service in the war.
- You Monster!:Gunter: I was a soldier, Becker!
Alfred: No, Captain, you were a sadist. You were a monster who derived pleasure from giving pain.- The opening narration also makes it perfectly clear from the get-go that Gunter is a monstrous excuse for a human being, calling him "an animal whose function in life is causing pain", as well as a person who had no heart.
Rod Serling: There is an answer to the doctor's question. All the Dachaus must remain standing. The Dachaus, the Belsens, the Buchenwalds, the Auschwitzes — all of them. They must remain standing because they are a monument to a moment in time, when some men decided to turn the Earth into a graveyard. Into it, they shoveled all of their reason, their logic, their knowledge, but worst of all, their conscience. And the moment we forget this, the moment we cease to be haunted by its remembrance, then we become the gravediggers. Something to dwell on and to remember, not only in the Twilight Zone, but wherever men walk God's earth.
